Surly Xtracycle Custom Ebike

[kingstumps70]

surly good,tune bad....really bad.

[KittycatWrangler]

Nice setup. Thumbs up for the mute button.

[zeppidy]

beautifully autotuned opera heh sweet bike tho. I'm gonna convert mine to electric over the winter :)

[antroth87]

That's just bad ass.

[stoopidsteve13]

Do you like the movie step brothers?

[luc59457]

Nice bike! we get 43mph 69km/h flat on 36v sla's, distance is not bad too. 30-35kms @ 30km/h

[seamuskatt]

i watch it all the way through and it doesn't actually go??

[dparham]

lol.. Yes it goes.. but I was doing the photographs and video myself with no one to photo riding it... but it goes and goes quickly..

[barabranch]

i use 4 packs of 18 cells each fully charge, 61 volts @ 9.4 amps on crystalyte 5303

[ourgaia]

Very nice bike, puts mine to shame! I saw that you ask about dewalts earlier. I run 2x dewalts (model DC9360) providing 72v @ 2.3ah The batteries are really 33v each, dewalt specify by their charge voltage (36v).

[dparham]

what distance can you get with the 2.3ah? and what controlelr are you using?? 36v 72v ?

[0urGaia]

I get about about 12 km (7 miles) with two batteries over hilly terrain. I do peddle most of the time however. I run two batteries in series to provide 2.3ah at 72v. I have a 48v controller which luckily runs at 72v without overheating.

[dparham]

incredible... is that at full speeds too? around 35 ish?? MUCH better than SLAs hu? IM wondering how much this 48 x 20ah pack im making with NiMH will be... I should have a serious range!

[0urGaia]

No I can't go that fast as my motor is smaller than your big x5. I have a brushless GL1 which is equivalent to the 408 but 1.2 kg lighter. My top speed is 26mph (42km/h) but I generally cruise around at 15 to 20mph (25 to 30km/h) so I can pedal. My controller is 18amp.

[dparham]

yeah.. I did not think that would work on my motor.. I just ordered a battery tester to balance all my new packs Im building cell to cell so I can have a strong pack... might open up some of those DeWalt pacs as soon as I can get a BMS or build one that will work with the different voltages...

[0urGaia]

The real benefit of the a123 cells is their longevity (over 2000 recharge cycles, some say 4000x) so if you have the bucks and plan to use the bike for a long time then it works out far cheaper than alternative batteries. I have gone for lighter/slower solution to yours so works out cheaper.

[dparham]

yeah.. thats sweet and plenty fast.... where I live there are some 1 lane areas I have to speed up through if there is any traffic.. so I need that little extra speed... so maybe for me.. more batts! lol I coudl del with 66v x maybe 8ah range...

[0urGaia]

safety=faster sometimes I agree. Its a pity they so dam expensive ($100 each on ebay). If you do decide buy them and want to disassemble the dewalts for the a123 cells, just make sure you have a workable charging solution. I couldn't find anything good at the time so kept the batteries as is and used the dewalt charger.

[dparham]

Well, you convinced me.. I just purchaced 2 packs on ebay and 2 chargers... combined shipping to save... total for all 4 peices 260.00 not bad... soon Ill buy 2 more packs then maybe I can get a few miles out of my 5x series motor at 72v ( 66v) x 4.8ah for now I have anotehr 36v brushless system Ill put this on for the test! how KEWL! however.. how are you connecting your packs to the controller??

[0urGaia]

lol you certainly don't waste time. I opened up the packs (you need special screwdrivers), raised the cells by an inch so I could solder the positive and negative terminals to power cords and combine the power using a double power socket (see ourgaia. net). Also look at hybridpowerbike. com they make a special holder so you can directly plug in batteries without modifying them.

[barabranch]

mines hit 40 mph on 60v dewalt

[dparham]

Thats kewl! yea I have been checking out the Dewalt A123 batts... Im looking into building a pack from them too... how many AH ( how many packs are you using to get the 60v ?)

[echoanomie]

I've got an xtracycle with the hookworms too - great feel to them :)

Is the hub motor on the back able to support passengers? I'd like to try a rear hub motor on the back, but I really want to be sure I can carry the occassional passenger.

[dparham]

I have carried a 200 lbs person on he back.. the good thing is that the HUB is not part of the weight... as the frame of the xtracycle sits on the hub... also that 5 series motor I have is VERY powerful and can taker up to 128v I have heard... that makes something like 5000watts + I did break a spoke, but it was on an older motor with thinner gage spokes... now I have 12guage spokes... they are very strong..... now no breaking.

[dparham]

I just heard they can take 128v dont try it unless you get some official proof.. lol but it is very heavy duty.. about 20lbs for this motor... I know it can take 72v +

[echoanomie]

Yeah I had it on 72v yesterday - on a 408 - which gets me to 55kph (33mph?) - fun and scary when thing begin to vibrate. Frankly I'm quite happy to ride at a speed I can peddle at too :)

[dparham]

hmm..I might try that with one of my 408 motors... nice! I haev the huge 5X motor ... is yours brushless?

[dparham]

I do not get any vibration.. that is very possible that your headset is not set correctly.. or wheels need to be trued again... other than that.. top center of gravity .. are you also using the longer wheelbase xtracycle?? once I had this problem on a short standard bike and also before I trued my frame also.. to the trued wheels... at high speeds.. everything definitely has to be adjusted to less tolerances... I also noticed higher speed after this...

[echoanomie]

Could be the alluminan frame with the non-suspension front fork (which are straight forks, not curved).

[dparham]

ahh.. yea... that could be it too...

[dparham]

Im Currently building a NiMH 48v x 20ah pack that is split into several banks so no one set is fully discharged above its C rate discharge, so Im expecting a very good range.. now on new SLAs here in South FLorida.

[dparham]

I can get about 8 to 10 miles at full speed in excess of 35mph.. some voltage sag from the SLAs hod me back... but with the larger pack and NiMH, this should increase considerably and maybe a little more speed!( Not that I "need" it ;-) But the Xtracycle increasing the wheelbase really improves stability at speed...

[RobotsAreHereNow]

cool

[dparham]

Thanks for the comment... the one thing I didnt say on here but might be implied the paint... well I had it stripped and powder coated.. only about 60 bucks! good thing is.. SUPER SHINY and in 1 year since I built this bike... not 1 scratch... NOTHING! and I ride it back and forth to work every day!..if I had to pedal.. Id not have this nice leather BROOKS saddle.. well not this model of it... sitting it is actually quite comfortable!

[RobotsAreHereNow]

i bet i,m big fan of this tec ,canada has a limit on watts just 500 but any volts you want.